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Wright Elementary School Students Participate in Kids Vote, Too™

Several weeks ago, the students of Wright Elementary had the opportunity to vote for their candidate for President of the United States. The students lined up by class and quietly entered the polling booth when instructed to do so. They were given a ballot and asked to proceed to the voting booth where they then indicated their selection. The ballot was then placed into the Ballot Box as they exited the booth and they received their "I Voted" sticker.

The Kids Vote, Too™ program evolved from former Supervisor of Elections Pat Hollarn’s desire, as a former teacher, to include the student audience in the voter education program, in order to build and reinforce a lifelong interest in the individual’s participation in voting process.

Barbara Smith, a pre-kindergarten disabilities teacher at Wright Elementary and the coordinator for this year’s mock election, said “The whole idea is to get the boys and girls excited about the idea of voting so when they turn 18 there won’t be any questions or ambiguity. They will know about the different parties, and hopefully will have decided by that time, which party they would like to be affiliated with, and they will realize the importance of actually voting.”

To incorporate the program into Wright’s curriculum, Smith provided the teachers with several websites and YouTube videos designed to engage their student’s in learning. The videos were kid friendly and featured an overview of the election process. The teachers also had the opportunity to incorporate their own lessons into the curriculum to help their students understand what the voting process is all about.

At the end of the election process, two student council members and two adult volunteers were asked to count the ballots. The results were shared with the student body the following day.